Hobson killed his
girlfriend Claire Sanderson, 27, and her twin sister
Diane at a flat in the village of Camblesforth. He
then killed an elderly couple in a nearby village.

Sunday 18th July 2004,
The twins' mutilated bodies were discovered by Diane's
boyfriend on 18 July 2004. Hobson subsequently murdered an
elderly couple, James and Joan Britton, at their home in
the village of Strensall, a few miles north of York..

Police said the two women had died several days apart and Diane had been sexually abused and strangled. Both had been stripped naked and Claire's body had been wrapped in bin liners.

25 July 2004,He was arrested at a
petrol station in the village of Shipton-by-Beningbrough,
near York, following a nationwide manhunt

April 2005, Hobson admitted all 4 murders.

The court was told that Hobson had
stabbed a love rival five times in the chest in a
daylight attack in front of shoppers in Selby in 2002,
leaving him with a punctured lung. Hobson had admitted
grievous bodily harm and managed to avoided a prison
sentence, instead receiving community service.

The trial also revealed that Hobson was
an alcoholic and cocaine user.

27th May 2005, Sentenced to life
imprisonment.

January 2006, letters were
released from Wakefield Prison where Hobson blamed
alcohol and drugs for his killing spree.

February 2007, some 15 months after Hobson's
failed appeal, the European Court of Justice began a
review of lifelong imprisonment to determine whether
such sentences amounted to a violation of human rights.

Hobson on is on the Home Office list of
prisoners serving a 'Whole Life Tariff', see list
here >>